The publication of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examination results has once again brought Bangladesh’s education system under scrutiny. This year, only 52.12 per cent of candidates passed, down from 58.83 per cent in 2025. Of the 1,240,798 candidates who appeared across 11 education boards, 646,685 passed, while 594,113 failed. The number of students securing the highest GPA-5 grade also fell sharply, from 69,097 last year to 40,084.
The figures are concerning, but the implications extend beyond examination performance. A system that takes students through 10 to 12 years of schooling before they reach higher secondary education must be judged by more than the number of certificates it awards. It must also be judged by what students can actually understand, communicate and apply.
The latest results raise an uncomfortable question: are students progressing through the education system without developing the knowledge and skills that education is meant to provide?
The decline in results needs to be considered in context. Unlike the shortened 2025 examinations, this year’s HSC exams covered the full syllabus, with full marks and standard exam durations. Differences in assessment conditions make direct comparisons difficult. A lower pass rate does not, by itself, establish that educational quality has deteriorated within a single year. However, the scale of failure, alongside longstanding weaknesses in learning outcomes, deserves serious attention.
One particularly revealing aspect of this year’s results is the performance in English and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). A combined 382,021 candidates failed these two subjects. English alone accounted for 243,528 failures, while another 138,493 failed ICT. These are not peripheral subjects. English is central to communication, higher education and access to international knowledge, while digital literacy is increasingly essential in almost every professional field.
When hundreds of thousands of students struggle with these subjects at the end of their higher secondary education, it raises questions about how effectively they have been taught throughout their academic lives.
Are students learning to use English, or simply preparing to answer examination questions? Are ICT classes developing practical digital skills, or are they largely confined to textbooks?
The problem may begin much earlier than college. According to UNICEF’s Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2025, only 50.2 per cent of children aged seven to 14 possess foundational reading skills, while just 39.2 per cent demonstrate foundational numeracy skills. These figures indicate that a substantial proportion of children are struggling with basic competencies during their school years.
The World Bank’s 2024 Learning Poverty Brief also estimated that 51 per cent of children in Bangladesh at the end-of-primary age could not read and understand an age-appropriate text. Although these indicators cover different age groups and use different assessment approaches, they point towards a persistent problem: access to schooling has not consistently translated into effective learning.
The shortage of qualified teachers is one of the most pressing challenges facing secondary education. In April 2026, Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon informed parliament that 92,081 teaching posts were vacant across government and non-government secondary, madrasa and technical education institutions.
Of these, 2,842 were vacant in government secondary schools, while 77,227 remained unfilled in MPO-listed non-government institutions. Government data also showed that 3,861 secondary institutions had no ICT teacher, 2,744 lacked mathematics teachers, and 2,625 had no English teacher.
These shortages have consequences beyond administrative statistics. When an institution cannot appoint a subject specialist, existing teachers must take on additional responsibilities, sometimes outside their areas of expertise. Classes become irregular, practical learning suffers, and students lose opportunities to receive individual attention.
A school may have classrooms, textbooks and examination facilities, but without adequate teaching staff, the learning process remains incomplete. Students who cannot understand lessons in the classroom often turn to private tutors, coaching centres or online resources to fill the gaps.
This creates another layer of inequality. Families with sufficient financial resources can purchase additional academic support, while students from low-income households must depend almost entirely on what their institutions provide.
The consequences can follow students into higher education. University admission tests frequently expose weaknesses in language proficiency, analytical reasoning and subject knowledge. A student who has obtained satisfactory grades may still struggle when asked to interpret a text, construct an argument or solve an unfamiliar problem.
The latest HSC results also reveal considerable differences between institutions. While 139 institutions recorded a 100 per cent pass rate, 293 had no successful candidates whatsoever.
These figures do not explain why some institutions perform well while others struggle, but they point to a need for closer examination. Teacher availability, institutional management, infrastructure, socioeconomic conditions, and access to academic resources may all influence outcomes.
Blaming students for poor results without examining these conditions risks overlooking the structural problems that shape their learning.
Another factor complicating the education system is the repeated revision of the national curriculum. Bangladesh introduced a revised national curriculum in 2012, followed by the National Curriculum Framework 2021, which adopted a competency-based approach emphasising practical skills and real-life applications over rote memorisation. Its implementation began in phases in 2023 and expanded to more grades in 2024.
However, in September 2024, the interim government decided to reinstate the 2012 curriculum at the secondary level, citing concerns over inadequate teacher preparation, unclear content and assessment methods. The previous curriculum was restored from 2025. Such changes have raised questions about continuity in teaching and learning, particularly for students who had already begun their studies under the newer system.
Bangladesh’s education system needs to move beyond a narrow understanding of academic achievement. Improving pass rates and increasing the number of GPA-5 recipients may be important, but neither can independently demonstrate that students are receiving a quality education.
The priority should be strengthening foundational literacy and numeracy from the earliest grades, improving classroom instruction and making practical learning an integral part of education. Regular assessments should identify learning gaps before students reach major public examinations, rather than exposing them only at the end of a long academic journey.
Teacher recruitment must also be accompanied by professional development, better working conditions and accountability for classroom performance.
The latest HSC results should therefore be treated not simply as a disappointing examination outcome, but as an opportunity to examine the wider education system. The challenge is not merely to help more students pass their next examinations. It is to ensure that those who graduate are genuinely prepared to participate in higher education, employment and society.
After all, twelve years of education should leave a student with more than a certificate. It should leave them with the ability to think, learn, communicate and make informed decisions.
